Super Bowl 47: Colin Kaepernick falls just short of another 49ers comeback

By Janie McCauley -
Associated Press -
Sunday, February 3, 2013

NEW ORLEANS — Colin Kaepernick got tripped up and tossed down, then still nearly led the greatest Super Bowl comeback in just his 10th career NFL start.

Rarely rattled on an impressive path to the Super Bowl, San Francisco’s second-year quarterback finally showed some inexperience on football’s big stage. Not to mention some guts.

After a remarkable postseason run — with those speedy legs — by the tattooed play-caller, the Baltimore Ravens exposed plenty of flaws in handing Kaepernick and Co. a 34-31 loss Sunday despite San Francisco’s second-half rally.

“They got away with one,” running back Frank Gore said. “We showed we were the better team. It was just a couple plays here, a couple plays there.”

No team has come from more than 10 points down to win a Super Bowl, and Kaepernick had a chance to make it happen less than three months after becoming San Francisco’s starter.

He regrouped during a 34-minute delay early in the third quarter because of a power outage, finding his groove and turning the Super Bowl into a wild game down the stretch — and gave yet more cred to the pistol offense designed by his old college coach that is so well suited for the NFL’s young, mobile quarterbacks.

“Colin was cool the entire game,” left tackle Joe Staley said. “Colin was the same he’s been the whole entire season. He’s never shown any hints of being rattled, any hint of being uncomfortable on the football field, and he showed that exact kind of character today.”

Kaepernick directed four second-half scoring drives, throwing a 31-yard touchdown pass to Michael Crabtree and also running 15 yards for a TD. But the 49ers missed the two-point conversion that would have tied the game with less than 10 minutes left.

Crabtree didn’t get much help in a mistake-filled first half by San Francisco (13-5-1), which failed to stop Joe Flacco and deliver the franchise’s sixth championship that would have matched the Pittsburgh Steelers for most ever.

The 49ers‘ perfect Super Bowl record? That’s over, too. They lost for the first time in the title game.

Perhaps it’s a bit premature to begin talking Bay Area dynasty again — in football, at least.

Playing for a title for the first time since Hall of Famers Steve Young and Jerry Rice won with a rout of San Diego 18 years ago, Jim Harbaugh’s Niners made costly mistakes on both sides of the ball early in the game. And special teams, too.

The 49ers had a pair of penalties in the opening 4:24 that proved costly.

After Baltimore won the toss and deferred, Vernon Davis was flagged for an illegal formation on the first play from scrimmage to negate his own 20-yard catch.